Erika Shupe's homeschooling abilities

[lilah]

I work at a heathen public school and cursive is not really in the curriculum. Blame no child left untested.

[August]

I'm off to the prayer closet. :doh:

*wink* *grin* *fart*

[Mama Mia]

I'm sorry but she is not doing her kids any favour. My daughter is 9 years old and she wrote like that when she was probably 5 years old. And that this child can't spell simple words like "right" and "person" at 8 is worrying. I know that some children have bad handwriting, but this is not handwriting. This is scribbles that a toddler does when it's staring to learn. And at 8 years old a child should be able to write in a sort of a straight line. But that takes a lot of practice over time. You can see that this woman doesn't spent too much time homeschooling. Probably just the minimum required. Such a shame

You're making an awfully sweeping generalization based on your own child. Kids writing progress varies hugely. As does adult writing. This same kid may be advanced in math. Or not.

I had one kid who would of written that note at 5 . I have another one who would of written that note at 9. If it was for a school assignment the 9 year old would of re-written it or made corrections. Which makes sense for a school assignment.

This isn't a school assignment, so the content is what is important, not the spelling or punctuation or printing.

Presuming from one casual sample of one 8 year olds writing that his mother Is doing the bare minimum regarding his education is ridiculous.

[lilah]

I think that's fair. But I will judge her homeschooling schedule like hell. According to Erika her 7 year (kid in question) doesn't do math and only does school for about 2 hours a day, 30 minutes of that is listening to a read aloud.

[3DMommy]

If I compare this to my 10 year old step son's work (and my 16 year old brother's), I don't think the handwriting is too bad, although the spelling could use some work. From my understanding they no longer teach cursive in the schools. Neither My brother nor my step son can write in cursive, and I know for a fact that my step son cannot read it.

[salex]

If I compare this to my 10 year old step son's work (and my 16 year old brother's), I don't think the handwriting is too bad, although the spelling could use some work. From my understanding they no longer teach cursive in the schools. Neither My brother nor my step son can write in cursive, and I know for a fact that my step son cannot read it.

Well then, we older people will have a secret code that will work in many situations in the future.... :wink-kitty:

[acheronbeach]

Why would she post it anyhow? I mean, kids hit milestones at different rates, but if your child's work is a bit below the average kid, why advertise it to the world?

[AnywhereButHere]

I was all ready to critque the hell out of her teaching abilities, because, well, it's Erika, but then I happened to come across some of my son's old school work from when he was about that age. No backwards letters, but some of the spelling was, ummm, inspirationally phonetic (to put it nicely :P), so much as I'd love to tear Ms. *smile*, *laugh* *shudder* down, I just can't here. Gah, that pains me!

[maybeizfundie]

My 9 yo writes stuff like this. This is his second year in public school. I thought I was a failure at homeschooling him due to very, very poor writing, until a child development specialist, the school counselor, and the school OT clarified that yes, he actually has a mild processing disorder. His fine motor skills suck, is what it boils down to. He's improved with OT but not dramatically.

I am sensitive to criticisms like this because my stbx was not interested in hearing about differences in development in children, and split the blame between me and the kid--me for being stupid and a poor teacher, and the kid for being "lazy." Due to that attitude and the way he treated us, that particular kiddo hates his father. So, annoying as Shupe lady may be, my kneejerk reaction is to do this :naughty: when I see criticisms like that.

[Coco]

This came up on my FB feed yesterday and i thought of this thread. :lol: Besides being super cute it made me feel a lot better about my dd's writing.

The original website has some really interesting info too. heidisongs.com/blog/2011/04/write-on-week-30.html

[SoybeanQueen]

My son is 9 and if he wrote something coherent, I would absolutely share it, because it's a big deal for him. It's progress. There's not a rule against people being proud of their kids when they're slightly or even well below average.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I think that's fair. But I will judge her homeschooling schedule like hell. According to Erika her 7 year (kid in question) doesn't do math and only does school for about 2 hours a day, 30 minutes of that is listening to a read aloud.

The kids do between 2 and 3 hours of school a day...is that normal for a homeschool family? Karen only does 2 1/2 hours as she has to go and make lunch, which doesn't seem fair.

Maybe Riley does math in the morning with Anna Marie, there is a blank bit on his schedule next to where she is doing it, so maybe she forgot to merge the two cells together on her spreadsheet, like she has done where kids are doing the same subject.

Why do they get up soooo early??? They homeschool! If I didn't have to get the kids to school by 8:45 every morning I would be getting up later than 7am.

Now I am looking through past schedules, and it is just so messed up. When Karen was 15 she woke up at 5am to take a walk with her dad.....she only got 8 hours of sleep. Teenagers generally need more than that, and studies show that teenagers aren't biologically wired to get up so early, which is why they do better at school in schools that start later.

[August]

I think that's fair. But I will judge her homeschooling schedule like hell. According to Erika her 7 year (kid in question) doesn't do math and only does school for about 2 hours a day, 30 minutes of that is listening to a read aloud.

That's on par with a public school.

9-11:30 literacy

11:30-12:30 lunch, recess (I know,it's rare to get anywhere near that long)

12:30-1:30 math

1:30-3 specials (art,library, computer, PE

So, there's only 2 1/2 hours of literacy, half an hour of which is read aloud, plus an hour of math. But, that's deceptive because of all the transition time, and time spent waiting for slower people to finish things, and time for the teacher to deal with misbehaviour. A normal homeschooler with two or three students can easily keep pace with a public school in 2-3 hours a day. And a normal homeschooler is going to be fairly into teaching/learning outside of the desk time, too. However, in a class of six or twelve like Erika's, where every student is working at a different level, there is going to be more time spent waiting than in a public school where they teach them all the same stuff at the same time.

[Mama Mia]

My son is 9 and if he wrote something coherent, I would absolutely share it, because it's a big deal for him. It's progress. There's not a rule against people being proud of their kids when they're slightly or even well below average.

:cracking-up: :cracking-up: :cracking-up: :cracking-up: :cracking-up: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

That is such an incredibly valid and important point!!!!!

I hadn't really thought about it before, because my kids were teens before the advent of social media, and I never blogged.....but Good God, life must be even more of a confidence destroying minefield for the children of parents who aren't academically inclined! And the poor children. It was bad enough back in the day when you just had to deal with people you saw in actual real life, and only the hyper-competitive ones to look down on your child. And if, like me, you had some kids who were extremely ahead of the curve, and others who struggled....uggghhhh, one of the things that makes me glad I'm old.

But yes parents should be proud of their children and feel free to post whatever makes them or their children happy.

[Burris]

I don't know how old this child is, but 3 mistakes of 15 in that conext isn't bad. The backward 'B' was a little surprising.

My language teachers in primary school

graded right minus wrong. At least Erika Shupe is proud of the kids and rewards for knowledge rather than punishing its lack

[Burris]

I'm sorry but she is not doing her kids any favour. My daughter is 9 years old and she wrote like that when she was probably 5 years old. And that this child can't spell simple words like "right" and "person" at 8 is worrying. I know that some children have bad handwriting, but this is not handwriting. This is scribbles that a toddler does when it's staring to learn. And at 8 years old a child should be able to write in a sort of a straight line. But that takes a lot of practice over time. You can see that this woman doesn't spent too much time homeschooling. Probably just the minimum required. Such a shame

This is not entirely fair: I, like my peers, did not enter primary school until age seven. Shupe's child writes more coherently at nine than I did but a year younger. Although I was good at maths, I had fallen back in languages.

Here's why I hesitate to condemn homeschooling: During break, my mother herself - then barely literate; knowing letter sounds and little else - decided that we should learn together: My spelling improved. I began learning languages, and so did she - well, in her case, kind of. Eight hours a day, she drilled me, saying the day would come when I'd need to know everything school tought. ( Seriouslty, eight hours a day, six days a week: Both my parents were functionally illiterate, and to their credit, they wanted different for me )

By the time the break was over, I was more than caught up. And my mom? She discovered the love of reading; a love that came to free her.

So, yeah, Shupe's kid writes as a youth of his age - and even if it takes him somewhat longer - his grammar is okay, but his spelling meeds work - that doesn't mean his writing will always remain simple.

[lilah]

That's on par with a public school.

9-11:30 literacy

11:30-12:30 lunch, recess (I know,it's rare to get anywhere near that long)

12:30-1:30 math

1:30-3 specials (art,library, computer, PE

So, there's only 2 1/2 hours of literacy, half an hour of which is read aloud, plus an hour of math. But, that's deceptive because of all the transition time, and time spent waiting for slower people to finish things, and time for the teacher to deal with misbehaviour. A normal homeschooler with two or three students can easily keep pace with a public school in 2-3 hours a day. And a normal homeschooler is going to be fairly into teaching/learning outside of the desk time, too. However, in a class of six or twelve like Erika's, where every student is working at a different level, there is going to be more time spent waiting than in a public school where they teach them all the same stuff at the same time.

Your estimations are off. I work for a public school where the hours are 9:15 to 3:55. The specials block is an hour long not 90 minutes. Your schedule is missing blocks for writing, social studies and science. Those are 30 minutes each. Recess is about 20 minutes.

[heidi]

I teach in a public school. We have 90 minutes of reading, 90 minutes of writing and 90 minutes of math a day. The kids have 30-60 minutes of specials a day (on the two days a week we have 30 minutes of specials, the other 30 minutes is spent on social studies/science--although we also incorporate science and social studies into reading/writing/math).

[August]

That's the schedule in my kids district. Social studies/science is the other special I forgot, they alternate weeks (yes, really). Writing is part of literacy, the teacher divides up the block according to their class. Often they have three half hour blocks and the class moves between the three. In the younger grades when I was volunteering in the classroom one of those half hour blocks would be an independent game or activity, one would be read to teacher/wait turn to read with volunteer, one would be with teacher. In a class of 18 or so, in the have your reading listened to block, I'd have 25 minutes (transition time!) to hear six kids.

I think children need to be in group learning environments, but they spend nowhere near all of their time being intensively tutored. I happen to think the rest of the stuff they do/ learn is really important (executive function, social skills, motor skills, etc), but those things can easily happen in the rest of the day, and would with a good homeschooler (not a fundie with ten children working through A Beka or ACE).

[galateasca]

Remember, this is a woman who can't correctly use the word "strait, which she uses for straight, nor spell Mary Jane shoes correctly (She uses "merry" like Christmas). Her entire blog is full of typos, grammar issues, punctuation issues and the like. As a teacher (in a not so ebil private school), it all makes my head wanna go "explodey!" Then again, her girls don't have to know how to spell because they are only going to be teaching others, right? Spelling doesn't matter if you're right with the Lord!